1. Field of the Invention
This site manager of the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for monitoring and maintaining unattended robot liquid storage and dispensing sites, in particular, monitoring and maintaining robot vehicle fuel storage and dispensing sites located at roadside.
2. Background of the Prior Art
A wide variety of industries must constantly monitor and manage site devices such as fuel pumps, inventory, and transactions at one or more robot liquid storage and dispensing sites. Such industries include the chemical and municipal water industries, as well as the vehicle fuel supply industry. Computers are used to monitor and collect data from the site devices. The computer output is usually in the form of serial output to a log printer. Typically, a site attendant at the site checks the printout from the log printer to determine the status of site devices, inventory, and transactions. This process has also been more fully computerized, wherein the output is downloaded into computer memory and analyzed via computer monitor either at the site or at the home office.
Various currently known devices and methods automatically monitor remote fuel dispensing sites. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,253 discloses an automated system that constantly collects data from a fuel tank and fuel dispensing system at the point of sale for the purpose of inventory reconciliation through statistical data analysis. The '253 patent uses a communication computer at the remote site to collect data from the site devices and is used simply to communicate the data to a central computer. The review and analysis of site data must be initiated by the action of a site attendant.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,319,544 discloses use of computers for collecting inventory data at remote sites for subsequent human analysis. The inventory data collection system of the '544 patent requires that an operator dial up the computer system to retrieve site data for subsequent analysis. U.S. Pat. No. 5,757,664 discloses automatic data collection from above ground liquid containers and relates specifically to monitoring tank integrity.
It is recognized that the site manager of the present invention may be particularly suited for many applications, including the chemical industries, water supply, and the like applications. The particular application described in detail herein is for monitoring and maintaining remote robot vehicle fuel sites, it being understood that the site manager so described is equally applicable to many different applications.
Current remote robot fluid storage and dispensing technology does not automatically scan for key words contained in data collected by on-site computers and, based on predetermined parameters, automatically initiate appropriate responses thereto.
With the forgoing in mind, the general object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for automatically monitoring and managing fluid dispensing transactions at remote fluid storage and dispensing sites, using the Internet.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for automatically scanning the data collected by on site computers for key words and based on predetermined parameters automatically initiate appropriate responses thereto, using the internet.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for automatically notifying and informing certain site personnel located remote from the robot liquid storage and dispensing sites about site failures.
It is another object of the invention to provide a method and apparatus for taking images of the remote sites and linking these images with data collected from site devices by on-site computers.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for automatically downloading remote site data as HTML files onto a webserver for instant access from locations remote to liquid robot storage and dispensing sites.